Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

I have recently purchased a large quantity of fair trade chocolate. Fair trade means that the people who produce the products will be paid a fair price for their products which will enable them to send their children to school, pay for adequate health-care, etc. Paying a small price premium on products such as coffee and chocolate usually makes no notable difference to the living expenses of someone in a first-world country such as Australia, but can make a huge difference to the standard of living of the people who produce the products. Also fair-trade products are generally of a very high quality, you are paying for the best quality as well as the best conditions of the workers.

I will share this chocolate at the next LUV meeting, hopefully the people who attend will agree that the chocolate is both of a high quality as well as being good in principle and that they will want to buy it too.

The Fair Trade chocolate I bought cost $6.95 per 100g. I went to Safeway (local bulk food store with low prices) to get prices on other chocolate to compare. Lindt (cheaper Swiss chocolate) costs $3.09 per 100g and has a special of $2.54. The Lindt and the Fair Trade chocolate are both 70%, but the Fair Trade chocolate is significantly smoother, has a slightly better aroma, and a better after-taste. So the Fair Trade chocolate costs slightly more than twice as much as Lindt, but I believe that it has a quality to match the price. Then I compared the price of a cheap chocolate, Cadbury Old Gold chocolate is also 70% cocoa and costs $4.29 for 220g, this makes it between 3.5 and 4.4 times cheaper than the Fair Trade chocolate. But if you like chocolate then Cadbury products probably aren�t on the shopping list anyway. I believe that the Fair Trade chocolate I bought can be justified on the basis of flavor alone without regard to the ethical issues.

All Linux users know what it�s like to have their quality of life restricted by an oppressive monopoly. We are fortunate in that it only affects us in small ways, not in our ability to purchase adequate food and health care. As we oppose software monopolies that hurt us in the computer industry we must also oppose monopolies in the food industry that hurt people in third-world countries. The fair trade programs are the best way I know of doing that. Hopefully after tasting the chocolate many LUV members will want to buy it too.

http://etbe.coker.com.au/2006/08/23/fair-trade-is-the-linux-way/

[Demophobe]

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

Demo,

*yawn* whatever.

Everyone else,

Just discovered these sites. Look really interesting but haven't had time to explore many of the links yet. Please feel to check them out and post reviews below.

http://www.chocolatework.com/links.htm

http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery/main.html#Table

[Demophobe]

Equating Linux users to the plight of slave labor in third world countries is insulting to those people.

Also, the "please buy your Louis Vitton handbag, made by fairly-treated Malaysians" whitewash is very 1990's.

Saving the world, bite by privileged bite, eh?

Instead of buying chocolate in the first place, how about asking folks to spend that money on sponsoring a child? Heck, if you eat even one bar a day, you could probably feed a village for a month. I buy fair trade when I can, and am not knocking the cause, but it really is a whitebread approach to the problem. Asking rich people (and yes, we are all comparatively rich) to shop for their superfluous, luxury items with a conscience is an absolute joke.

[JustJohn]

While you are absolutely right Demo, the problem is that we are all so lazy/selfish that we won't do anything of the sort.

I personally think whoever thought of the idea is brilliant because it allows a ridiculously apathetic (at least in this regard) demographic to do some small amount of good with next to no effort.

[bassexpander]

Linux has had years to become a user-friendly product.

It's not. It sucks for the average person.

[Demophobe]

[mrsquirrel]

I'm a nix user but I certainly don't give a shit about eating more expensive chocolate.

Bad luck for the poor people being born in a poor country. Why would I want them to get rich? If they get rich whose kids would make my Nike trainers and Addidas t-shirts?